Mubarak supporters deny foreign funding allegations

'We are sorry Mr President' Facebook group has received at least LE3 million from Gulf charities, security source says

Mubarak supporters and members of the ‘Ana Asaf ya Rayas’ (We are sorry Mr President) Facebook page have denied allegations in Rosa Al-Youssef newspaper that the group is funded by a number of charities in the Gulf, without the knowledge of their governments, and that the group’s bank accounts have been frozen.

The Rosa Al-Youssef report, published on Thursday and based on an unnamed security source, claimed the Pro-Mubarak group received not less than LE3 million from various Gulf charities and that the administrators of the group admitted receiving the money after they were arrested following attacks on the families of martyrs at the Mubarak trial two weeks ago.

The security source added that the Pro-Mubarak group is made up of thugs, former members of ex-NDP ruling party in the Misr El-Gadida area of Cairo, as well as some ladies and youth that feel sympathy with former president Mubarak and his sons.

The Facebook page posted a status update denying the allegation, stating that its administrators do not have bank accounts or even passports. The page also announced that its administrators were ready to cooperate with the general prosecution’s investigation.

‘We are sorry Mr President’ is one of the most controversial and outspoken Pro-Mubarak groups on Facebook. It has 113,360 members, attacks the revolution, and holds Pro-Mubarak protests in public squares like Mustafa Mahmoud Square and Roxy Square, or outside the police academy during the Mubarak trials.

Despite the page’s claim to be peaceful, pro-revolution activists have accused them of using violence against the families of martyrs and protesters at the police academy during the Mubarak trial two weeks ago. The administrators of the page, Essam Abu El-Khair and Karim Hussein, caused controversy when they admitted attacking reformist judgeMohamed El-Khodairy at the Mubarak trial along other Mubarak’s supporters. Judge Khodairy was transferred to the hospital following the attack.

Essam Abu El-Khair, a former conscript in the presidential guard, also admitted that on 24 July 2011, he and others abducted human rights activist Amr Gharbia from Al-Abbassiya Square and handed him over to General intelligence, which later released him.

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